


Our World

by Mel_eficent



Series: Gay Pirate AU [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, No Angst this time I swear, Pirate AU, Pirates, just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-17 23:34:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2327231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mel_eficent/pseuds/Mel_eficent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin and Eren take a day off Pirating and spend it at their own little hideaway, it soon becomes a day they aren't likely to forget</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our World

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Here is the long awaited third installment in my Gay Pirate AU, Gay Pirates 3: The Revengeoning! Heheh, technically this is the second installment because it happens before the second chronologically but whatever. I hope you enjoy it!

“Bullshit,” Armin said, eyes set in a deadpan glare at the other boy, “There's _no way_ that really happened.”

“I’m telling you, it’s true!” came Eren’s retaught, dumbfound smile plastered on his lips, “I swear, it came right up to the ship!”

Armin watched as his friend threw his arms about as he talked, totally un-phased by his enthusiastic display. This was not the first time Eren had tried to spun a tall tale to Armin, he was no stranger the brunette’s tendency to embellish, or outright make up, any story he told. “And I’m telling _you_ ,” He said, jabbing a fervent finger at Eren’s chest, “that you did not just _happen_ to see a Blue Whale, that you damn well know is my favourite animal, and it just _happened_ to be the one time I wasn't aboard the ship.”

“Don’t forget that it just _happened_ to swim up to us, close enough to touch!” Eren replied, unable to contain his giggling.

“Oh, you _asshole!_ ” Armin exclaimed; his calm, not-having-any-of-your-shit demeanour finally crumbling, as he shoved Eren’s shoulder hard enough to make him fall over. Eren couldn't care less though; he just lay on the beach, sand in his hair, laughing away. “You are such a shitty liar.”

“I-I’m not lying I swear!” Eren struggled to get the words out between his fits of hysteria, and even though the blond hated to admit it, it was infectious. It wasn't long before Armin was laughing too.

He’d missed this, just spending time with his best friend, his _lover_ , in their little hideaway. They’d been doing it pretty tough lately; not only had almost all of their contacts and brokers gone into hiding, but the Navy’s sea patrols had virtually doubled, tripled even, and there were more redcoats then there had ever been in every British port from here to Singapore. It was that new governor, he was really cracking down, saying that ‘His Majesty’s colonies in The West Indies had become so lax as to permit open acts of debauchery, dissolution, and harlotry that they had become the mockery of the British Empire’ or some other imperial nonsense. Lately it had gotten so bad that they could barely leave Nassau, not with Armin’s name on so many arrest warrants, and he wasn't alone. This meant that Eren was the only one who could lead the handful of crew members not hounded by the English, which of course lead to boasting.

Just as he was now.

“Well then,” the captain said, finally regaining his breath, “how is it that you've gone the past two days without telling me anything, and how have any others of the crew?”

Eren froze, hesitating for the slightest of moments. “Uh,” he started, “…we, didn't want to make you feel bad?”

Armin arched an eyebrow in an unsatisfied manor. Eren offered a guilty smile in return, and if that wasn't telling enough, Armin could the tips of his bright red ears poking through his matted hair. “Ha!’ the blond said victoriously, pinching Eren’s ear before he could react, “I knew it! There is no way you saw a Blue Whale!”

He sat up on his haunches, head held high in triumph. Eren rolled over and sat up, arching his back and resting his head on his hands. “Ok, maybe it didn’t happen, but it could have though!”

When he heard this, the blond scoffed at his helmsman, “There is a higher chance of you running into a group of kind and forgiving redcoats then there is of seeing Blue Whales out here; honestly with the way things are going, I’m surprised you haven’t been captured yet.”

It was a while before either of them said anything after that, and Armin wondered whether or not he had struck a nerve. He was always doing that, he chided himself, just blurting things out and ruining the mood. This time though it wasn't just some random thought. With him cooped up in New Providence with Mikasa and most of the crew, there wasn't really much Armin could do except worry about Eren; he’d be lying if he said he hadn't thought about the worst case scenario rather frequently. That was Armin’s greatest fear, for something happening to his Eren while he was powerless to stop it.

Just then, as if reading his melancholy thoughts, Armin felt a warm sensation on the back of his hand. “Hey,” Eren said just above a whisper, fingers snaking over his lover’s hand to intertwine their fingers, “I’m not going anywhere, ok?”

Armin smiled when he looked down on Eren’s face. He had that look in his eye, that look he always seemed to have whenever they started talking about something dangerous. It was determined, unwavering, resolute, and yet at the same time just the opposite; it was hesitant, nervous, even scared. Not many people saw this side of him, they were treated to Eren’s passion and zeal, or his brash and brazenness; Armin was really the only one who got see Eren with all his barriers down. Because of this, that look meant the world to him; it felt as if all of Eren was laid before him, his strength and his weakness, determination and anxiety. To Armin that look said _you have all of me, every ounce belongs to you_. He smiled.

Armin leaned down and planted a soft, chaste kiss on the brunette’s supple lips. It was strange, considering how much time they spent bombarded by the sea and the sun, that their lips remained un-salty and un-dry. He lay down on the yellow sand once again, letting Eren wrap his arms around his waist and pull his body against his own. He felt Eren’s chin rest on the crown of his head, as if their bodies had been molded to fit each other. The two of them laid there, drinking in the other, their breath, their smell, their touch; watching as the sky slowly began to change from yellow to orange.

“Remember when we found this place?” Eren asked mumbling, clearly tired.

Armin chuckled, “You mean the Hurricane? How could I forget? There was a torrent of rain, the wind howled, the cold bit, and the sea tried it’s best to swallow us.”

“Yeah,” Eren recalled, “And that was _before_ we capsized.”

Armin rolled over, looking into Eren’s sea coloured eyes, “And before you saved me from drowning.”

Eren smiled lazily, eyelids lolling, and kissed the blonde’s forehead, “couldn't let you drown could I?”

The captain giggled in reply, pressing his face into Eren’s chest, “No, I suppose you couldn't.”

***

_He knew he was going to die. He could sense the ungodly cold start to eat away at his limbs until he couldn't feel them, feel his lungs start to compress and dry up, like he was being stabbed through the chest with red-hot iron._

_He knew it was the end, and he was terrified._

_So terrified he didn't feel the arm wrap around his chest and haul him out of the water. He was thrown aboard the tiny wooden vessel spluttering, heaving the water from his lungs and flopping around like a fish. “Armin!” he heard someone call faintly above the deafening storm, “Armin! Are you ok?”_

_This time, when a hand came to rest on his shoulder, he felt it. Gazing up, he saw Eren, clothes soaked through and hair flying about in the wind, but it was Eren. Armin all but jumped into him, locking his arms around his best friend’s shoulders. “Eren!” he sobbed into the taller boy’s chest, relieved that both of them were ok._

_But the Fates loved to prove him wrong, and decided at that moment to send a wave that almost knocked them overboard once more. “We need to get out of here!” Eren screamed above the pelting rain, “Which way do we go?”_

_“I don’t know!” the blond screamed back. He curled up in a ball in the tiny lifeboat that held him, shivering like a leaf. “I don’t know I don’t-”_ Wait, that’s right! _It came to him so suddenly. He’d seen it out of the corner of his eye when their boat tipped over,_ Land. _“THAT WAY!” he cried, arm outstretched toward the small dark shape on the horizon, only truly illuminated by the flashes of lighting in the night sky, “STARBOARD!”_

_After a lot of rowing, shrieking, and trying not to capsize again, they finally made it to shore. They sat huddled close together, sopping wet clothes discarded (they were already soaked to the bone), scouring the horizon for any sign of their ship. It didn't bother Eren all that much; it was Queen Anne’s ship not his, he just had the displeasure of manning it._

_“You see anything?” He said to Armin, knowing full well what the answer would be._

_It wasn't the response he needed to hear, it was Armin’s voice, he needed to make sure he was still conscious. ‘N-nothing” he replied._

_They sat like that for hours; huddled together beneath the canopy of palm trees, teeth chattering, freezing cold, but very much alive. Yet despite all of this, the cold, the wind, the rain, the loss of their ship, there was only one thing on Eren’s mind: Armin. It was funny how a near death experience suddenly made you realize how worries, however big they might seem, really aren't all that menacing, because the alternative is so much worse. Armin had almost died tonight, and he would have died without knowing how Eren felt about him. Hell, he could_ still _die tonight; they were hardly safe, they might have hours, or_ seconds.

_“A-Armin,” Eren began, not sure if he was quaking because of the cold or his own fear of what came next, “I need to… to t-tell you something.”_

_“E-Eren n-now’s… hardly the time,” the blond struggled out._

_“It… m-m-might be the o-only time. Armin I-I… l-l-l-l-” he was trying, he really was, but the elements around him weren't making any of this easier. At least he had something to blame it on anyway. “I l-love you!” he finally managed._

_Armin froze, his heart skipping a beat, and for a moment he thought that the hypothermia was finally setting in. He slowly turned to the boy beside him; the boy he’d known all his life, who shared his hopes and dreams, the boy who lit a fire in his heart, who made him feel strong. The boy who he loved. Shaking, a tanned hand reached out and wiped sopping wet bangs from Armin’s alabaster forehead, his sapphire eyes shining in the starlight. Hesitant at first, they both leaned into each other, eyes taking in every inch of the other’s face. When their lips met, everything else seemed to fade away; there was no island, no ocean, no hurricane, no cold, just the two of them._

_“Promise me,” Eren said, finally breaking the kiss, “Promise me you’ll survive, don’t make that my goodbye ok?”_

_Eren sniffed, and Armin realized he was crying. From happiness or fear or exhaustion he didn't know, but now it was Armin’s turn to be comforting. His cool, slender fingers cupped Eren’s cheek, shocking and dishearteningly not its usual feverish temperature._

_“Only if you promise the same” The blond replied. He smiled, tears beginning to prickle his own eyes._

_Soon Eren was smiling too. The both of them were freezing to death, soaked to the bone, and probably shell shocked; but they were alive, and they had each other. They couldn't ask for anything more._

***

And they kept their promises. After hours of quivering arms enclosed around quaking bodies, the storm finally broke. As the grey rain-curtain was rolled back, a ray of morning sunlight shone down on them, and to the two of them, it seemed as if the other was enveloped in a golden glow. 

They’d improved their shabby little beach a lot since then; they’d added hammocks to sleep in, a fire pit, a proper canopy when they needed it, and an assortment of other things they’d managed to haul out of the ocean. They realized one morning, the sun bathing the water until its colour was brighter then the sky, that when the tide went out their crashed ship was only a few fathoms beneath the surface. They spent that day and many others, wading out into the blue and diving down to grab as much of the waterlogged cargo as they could. Surprisingly most of it was salvageable.

It was an unspoken agreement between the two of them that they would keep this place a secret; too much had happened between the two of them here, anyone else’s presence in that place would taint it somehow. “Even Mikasa?” Armin had asked one evening, swaying back and forth cathartically in his hammock.

It was a while before Eren responded, eyes locked at some point on the horizon. “We have the room on Nassau for the three of us, and our quarters on the ship,” the brunette turned to look up at the blond, reaching out and running his fingers through his hair, “This place is just for us.”

Armin had liked that. He loved Mikasa with all his heart, but this place… this was their sanctuary, their getaway, the place they came when they needed to be alone or to take a break from everything or sometimes just because.

Just like they were now.

“You know,” Armin said at last rolling over and locking eyes with Eren, “we never did name this place.”

A thoughtful look came on Eren’s tan face. It was true, in the years that had passed since they found this place, they had never once thought of naming it. Mostly they just referred to it as _our place_ in conversation, but that was hardly a name.

“What should we name it?” the blond asked. Eren chuckled.

“You mean other than Eden?”

Armin arched his eyebrow again, the same way he had before, “Really, a Bible reference? How very original Helmsman.”

“Oh,” Eren said, mock offended, “I’m sorry Mr. Heretic I didn't realize that Christian imagery offended you.”

Armin laughed, it was a small, breathless laugh, but it filled him up. He loved this, just talking with Eren; it came so easily to the both of them that they didn't even have to try. “It doesn't,” Armin said, “I was just hoping for something a little more… you know, personal.”

Once again that familiar silence filled the air. It wasn't uncomfortable or awkward; they knew each other too well for it to be anything other than relaxed. Eren’s eyes drifted towards the horizon, as they were oft to do, as he became lost in thought.

“It doesn't need a name,” he finally uttered.

“What do you mean?” Armin asked, brushing away a wayward lock of auburn hair.

“I mean, giving something a name means it has a presence, it means it could end up on a map somewhere, it’ll exist to the rest of the world.” Eren said, trying his best to convey what he felt. Words didn't come as easily to him as they did to his captain, but he’d be damned if he said he didn't try his hardest to get them out.

“I don’t want that. T o me when we’re here, this place, this little stretch of sand and trees in the middle of the ocean, it could be all there is in this world. When we’re here it feels like that water could go on forever in every other direction, and we’re the only things that matter in it all.”

Piercing eyes gazed into soft ones, and hands found themselves tangled in golden hair. “It’s the world, Armin, if you want to give it a name give it that, our own little world.”

Armin smiled. His admiration and awe for the brunette never seemed to temper, not in all his years. Most people saw Eren as brash and hot-headed, which wasn't untrue but it meant they thought he was also dim-witted and thoughtless. Just goes to show how wrong they were.

“Alright,” Armin said at last, “ _Our Place_ it is.”

Eren opened his mouth about to speak but stopped, cheerful expression dropping from his face, eyes no longer on his friend. “E-eren?” Armin asked, a little concerned for the brunette’s sudden change in demeanour, but he was met with no response. An enraptured, exuberant, and rather goofy smile spread across Eren’s face. Sitting up to look out at the horizon, the blond watched as his eyes grew wide, pupils dilated, and heard the sharp intake of his breath.

At last his sea-foam eyes fell on Armin, smile still plastered on his cheeks. “Look!” he all but shouted, arm animated as it pointed out to sea. Armin had no idea what was going on, but was curious to find out what had gained Eren’s attention so avidly. He too turned and followed where his friend was pointing, eyes falling on…

The air froze in his lungs, and the rest of his body with it. He didn't know how a heart attack felt, but imagined it felt something like this. His eyes fell on the most magnificent and mighty tail he had ever seen, rising out of the water slowly, reaching to the sky, and sinking slowly back down into the drink.

He was on his feet in less than a second, racing down the beach as fast as the wind and his spindly legs could carry him. By the time his toes began splash through the shallows he sank to his knees, his chest filling up with joy; gulping down air that he realized he hadn't already been breathing.

 _A Blue Whale,_ Armin thought, _it was an actual Blue Whale! I can’t believe it! Almost no one had seen one! They’re so solitary that it’d be a miracle to find one! And_ I _get to be one of those people!_ I _get to be the one to-_

Armin stopped, his train of thought crashing to a halt. What was he doing? He was within eye shot of a _Blue Whale_ , somewhere that almost no one can say they've been, and he was just sitting there? He had to get out there. He _had_ to be on the water, as close as he could to the giant of the sea.

“Eren, quick! Ready the-” Armin started, whipping his head around to tell his partner to ready the boat, but he wasn't there.

Eren was no longer sitting on the beach; he was already right next to him, wading through the water and pulling their little sailboat behind him. “Way ahead of you,” He said. God, he loved Eren. He dived into the boat and started readying the sail, his helmsman not far behind him.

The wind was strong today, and Armin had never been more thankful. In minutes, the whale’s tail was less of a speck on the horizon and more of a thing-bigger-than-their-entire-ship. It was _massive_ , no, that didn't cover it, it was  _immense_. It was vast, cosmic, gargantuan, colossal, titanic! It was… it was…

Oh God, it was right there.

For the second time that day, Armin breath dried up as he took in the weight of it all. It broke the surface of the water, it’s deep, _deep_ blue skin glistened as cool water trickled over it, and he could see where clusters of barnacles had made their home on the giant's back. It was the biggest thing Armin had ever seen, bigger than the _Freedom’s Wing_ , bigger than the island, bigger than a galleon! England liked to believe that it ruled the waves, but they were wrong. Armin could not see how that was remotely true in the face of such majesty. _This_ was the true King of the Ocean, it merely permitted the English to stay in its realm.

Suddenly, a deep, throaty roar shook the boat and the very sea around them. The water broiled violently as the mighty beast once again submerged into the deep. But he did not stay there for long. It rose again, the ocean erupting in a flurry of white water as another bellow filled the air. It broke the surface once more, this time rising higher than it had previously. It was have been 80, no, _90_ feet long! Armin couldn't believe it!

 _Well, I’ve come this far_ , He thought, _I’m not gonna waste my chance while I still have it_. Cautiously, he leaned out of the side of the boat, and stretched his arm out as far as he could. He fingers hovered above the gentle titan, unsure of what would happen next. Hesitantly, arm shaking, he reached down and brushed his fingers across its back. It was… smooth, that was all the blonde could think at first. The sovereign’s skins was royal blue (rather fitting) and smooth and cool to the touch. He ran his hand slowly back and forth and could no longer contain his happiness. He let out the bubbliest of giggles, still not quite believing this was all really happening.

After a few moments and a geyser of water from its blowhole, the mighty creature dived again; this time it’s tail (which was wider than the boat in and of itself) rising into the air in its wake. A pang of sadness fell on Armin’s heart. It was over, the moment gone, never to be had again.

Or so he thought.

Soon, he noticed the water around the boat started to bubble; slightly at first but soon it began to turn white. Armin knew what was coming. He stood up, arms spread out to keep his balanced, brimming with anticipation.

“A-armin? That doesn't look very safe. What are you…?” Eren began, but soon he too realized what was about to happen as a deep, pulsing sound filled his ears, as if someone was steadily striking a great and mighty drum. The beat of the ocean.

The blonde’s heart thundered in his chest, beating as fast as the hooves of a horse galloping on the wind. The waters parted and he let out a cry of happiness, as if the very potency and strength of the rapture he felt was too great to be contained in his mere mortal frame. As he cried, the noble beast erupted from the water; this time reaching toward the sky. It rose high into the air, towering over the puny boat as a God would tower over man. It answered Armin’s call; sounding its own barbaric yawp of jubilee, its fins spread out wide just the same. Reaching the apex of its leap, its royal blue skin fell back into the water, its great white and rippled belly exposed; and, as if it were a man of faith striking down with a wooden staff, the gentle giant parted the sea, the blue around him soaring into the air in 60 ft high walls of water.

Armin had never been to an orchestra, his family had been far too poor, but he imagined a crescendo to be something like that.

The shock wave of the blast rocked the little sail boat and the joyful blond boy within it lost his balance, falling onto the deck and bumping his head on the wooden frame. Armin didn't care, he was too high on the majesty of what he had just witnessed, and he began to laugh. It was a deep laugh, one that wracked the chest and made it ache when he was done, a laugh of one too consumed in happiness to think that anything could ever possibly be wrong. Soon enough Eren was laughing too, lost in that same haze of ecstasy.

So the two boys laid there, laughing and whooping and yawping until their lungs burned and were too dizzy to stand any longer. They laid together in that boat, chests heaving, fingers locked together, gazing up at the stars. They were happy; happy to be alive, to be lucky enough to see what they had seen, and most of all, happy to be with each other.

***

That night Eren lay fast asleep in his hammock, arms enclosed around the smaller blond boy lovingly. But Armin was not asleep. He was still far too excited after today to sleep just yet, and his mind still raced with the day’s events.

He thought back to what Eren had said, about the island not needing a name, and he found himself agreeing. They had shared so much together in their time here, so many first experiences he had were had here. It was here where he first said I love you, where he drank his first whole bottle of rum and (consequently) where had spent his first time drunk. He had danced the first time on this beach, Eren’s arms delicately on his waist; where he had his first kiss and his first… ahem, other things. And now, they had today.

Eren was right, this place didn't need a name.

 _Our Place_ , he thought, eyelids growing heavy, _our world_.

And on that thought, Armin drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that stuff about names didn't sound to weird, I just kinda went with it I don't know  
> But yeah, my original draft of this didn't include the whole Whale thing happening but then I started writing that introduction and I knew I had the perfect way to end it!  
> It also gave me the chance to blatantly insert my 'Armin's favourite character' headcanon so that's great too  
> Please leave a review if you liked it or if want me to continue writing, I have a couple of free weeks now and some more ideas so I may be able to crank a couple more out, I live for your responses!


End file.
